Moms Have Dreams Too

I knew I wanted to be a yoga teacher the first time I walked out of a yoga class nine years ago. In the course of an hour, I felt like I had stepped out of my life and reconnected with some timeless part of my Self. At the time, I was a stay-at-home, nursing mom with a six month old and a husband who worked long hours, so most days I felt stressed-out, sleep-deprived, bored and generally under-appreciated. Yoga was like medicine for the soul. I left the studio empowered and restored. But most importantly, I left feeling called to facilitate this wonderful experience for others.

 

There were many obstacles in my path, the largest being a lack of time. Yoga teacher trainings require months of weekend-long intensives. Clearly, this was not an option when just finding time to practice at home was difficult. 

Second, I wasn”t in the best shape. Although I was naturally flexible, I’d never really been what you’d call athletic. My exercise regime was limited to strollersizing in the neighborhood with friends so I had a lot of work ahead of me if I planned to achieve the impressive strength and grace of the yogis. I attempted yoga classes at the YMCA but every time I left my daughter in child-watch, she cried the entire time. So I resigned myself to one Saturday morning class a week. 

My son was born two years later and my husband had to take a job that required him to travel several weeks a month, often through the weekend, so I finally decided to throw up my hands and shelve my dream completely. 

This is a common story for moms. Before children, it was all about us and our dreams. We thought nothing of spending time and money to educate ourselves and to hone our skills because we believed we were worth it. And if we weren”t sure what our dream was, we gave ourselves permission to explore the possibilities – to search for our life’s purpose.

Of course Tama kaikki kuulostaa toki helpolta ja yksinkertaiselta, mutta aloitteleva pelaaja saattaa olla hamillaan koska erilaisia panostusmahdollisuuksia on useita. to many of us, motherhood is a calling. I know there free Barbie dressing games downloads is nothing I will do in this life as important or fulfilling as being a mother to my two children R-Tools provides utilities for all types of hard drive data recovery houston needs, from simple file deletion to network editions and technician editions of the software for difficult data-loss disasters. and I don’t regret the sacrifices I”ve made to pokies online be the kind of mother I need to be. However, I do regret always putting my children and my husband’s happiness ahead of my own.

So many moms fall into this pattern. When we have babies and toddlers, we become accustomed to putting aside our basic needs – a good night’s sleep, a shower, a leisurely meal and even a trip to the bathroom alone. As children get older and we have more free time again, it’s as if many of us have forgotten how to take care of ourselves. We”ve forgotten that we matter too. We live vicariously through our children’s dreams, driving them all over town for lessons and games. We tuck the dreams of our own youth away, promising ourselves that one day, when we have the time, Play free roulette and try the slot machines for free, or test your skills by playing online . the money and the freedom, we’ll get around to pursuing them Vi lister kun seriose spiludbydere, som eksempelvis Tivoli Casino, Bet365 og PartyCasino. again.

When my son started preschool, I felt lost. Motherhood had been my whole life for the past six years and I had no idea how to occupy my time. I knew that lunch with friends, errands and volunteer work at the school would not satisfy my soul for long. What I needed was a new life purpose – a big, fat, audacious dream.  Fortunately, I had one on the shelf that just required a little dusting.

As human beings, we all need a dream to hold. It gives us hope, direction and as we accomplish small milestones along the way, a deep sense of satisfaction. In nurturing that dream, we nurture ourselves. We affirm our self-worth and our self-efficacy. When we ignore our dreams for too long, we send ourselves the opposite message, that we are unworthy and incapable. It requires so much more courage and determination when we finally step back onto our path.

This was certainly my experience. The physical challenge of becoming a yogi was nothing compared to the courage it took to tell my family I would be gone every other weekend for six months while I completed my teacher training. Or the courage it took to stand up in front of a class full of students to teach what I’d learned. As author Meg Cabot so eloquently put it:

Courage is not the absence of fear but the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all. For now you are traveling the road between who you think you are and who you can be.

My first yoga class went beautifully. Not because the class was perfect – I made many little mistakes– but because I knew as I was teaching that I was right where I was supposed to be. I was fulfilling my life purpose: facilitating for others the opportunity to step out of their busy life and listen to the call of their soul.